Курсанова Татьяна Андреевна
Институт истории естествознания и техники им. С.И. Вавилова РАН
DOI: 10.24411/2076-8176-2017-11921
Изложен жизненный путь действительного члена Российской академии наук Г.А. Надсона (1867-1939), микробиолога, основателя радиационной генетики и селекции, с именем которого связано открытие искусственного мутагенеза. Он изучал пигменты низших организмов, антагонизм и симбиоз, роль микроорганизмов как геологических деятелей. В 1920 г. установил, что при облучении радием в клетках дрожжей происходят наследственные изменения, первоисточником которых является клеточное ядро. Дальнейшая работа была посвящена проблеме изменчивости, наследственности и эволюции микроорганизмов. Основатель «Журнала микробиологии» (1914). Первый директор Института микробиологии Академии наук СССР (1934), основатель современной школы микробиологии в России. В статье рассмотрено противоречивое взаимоотношение академического учёного с советской властью, проблема возможности научного творчества при отсутствии политических и гражданских прав. Надсон был безосновательно обвинён в терроризме и расстрелян, что на долгое время привело к забвению его имени и замалчиванию первенства в открытии радиационного мутагенеза, которое по научной литературе принадлежит Г.Дж. Мёллеру (1927). Жизненный путь учёного рассмотрен в контексте дискуссий, происходивших в коллективах институтов Академии наук, на Общих собраниях и заседаниях Президиума АН СССР, инспирированных правящей властью.
Ключевые слова: Георгий Адамович Надсон, радиационный мутагенез, Институт микробиологии АН СССР, В.И. Вернадский, общая микробиология.
Life of a Scientist in the Context of an Ideological Struggle in the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. To the 150th Anniversary of Academician G. A. Nadson (1867-1939)
Kursanova Tatiana A.
Institute for the History of Science and Technology named after Sergey I. Vavilov, Russian Academy of Science
DOI: 10.24411/2076-8176-2017-11921
The article analyzes the role of Georgy Adamovich Nadson in the development of radiation genetics. His name is associated with discovery of the introduced mutagenesis. The present paper is an attempt to tell about his life and scientific activity, using his works, new archival materials, memoires of contemporaries. He was the founder of the Journal of Microbiology, first director of the Institute of Microbiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the founder of the modem school of microbiology in Russia. In 1920, he found out that when radium is irradiated in yeast cells, hereditary changes occur, the primary source of which is the cell nucleus. The work was accomplished by classical microbiologist, contained genetic findings and was based on microbiological methods, though remained unappreciated by the genetics. In 1925, the possibility to obtain mutant strains of microorganisms under the influence of various factors on the genetic apparatus of the cell was finally confirmed by Nadson on the hundreds of generations of microorganisms. However, in the literature it is believed that the superiority of the discovery of radiation mutagenesis belongs to the American geneticist H. Muller (1928), who received the Nobel Prize for his work. The author of the article examines the arguments of the researchers in defense of the primacy of Nadson and the arguments that refute him. The argument that Muller’s primacy confirms the proposed quantitative method of accounting for mutations is unconvincing. Studies were carried out on different objects — Mucoraceae and Drosophila, which required the use of various techniques. Chronologically, the work of Nadson, who made a similar conclusion, was 8 years ahead of Mulle. The article discusses the contradictory relations between the academic scientist and the Soviet authorities, the problem of scientific creativity in the absence of political and civil rights. In 1039, Nadson was mistakenly accused of terrorism and was executed. For a long time led to the oblivion of his name and was another reason for the silence of the discovery. Based on new archival materials, the scientific destiny is considered by the author in the context of the discussions that took place in the scientific circles of the institutes of the Academy of Sciences, at General meetings in the Academy.
Keywords: Georgy Nadson Adamovich, Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Radiation mutagenesis, Introduced mutagenesis, V.I. Vernadsky, USSR Academy of Sciences.